Everyday robotic action: lessons from human action control

All together now: Simultaneous feature integration and feature retrieval in action control

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review ◽

10.3758/s13423-021-01999-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Birte Moeller ◽

Christian Frings

Keyword(s):

Human Action ◽

Action Control ◽

Feature Integration ◽

Probe Design ◽

Stimulus Response ◽

The Past ◽

Significant Stimulus ◽

Retrieval Processes ◽

Design Integration ◽

Probe Response

AbstractAccounts of human action control assume integration of stimulus and response features at response execution and, upon repetition of some of those features, retrieval of other previously integrated features. Even though both processes contribute sequentially to observed binding effects in studies using a sequential prime-probe design, integration and retrieval processes theoretically affect human action simultaneously. That is, every action that we execute leads to bindings between features of stimuli and responses, while at the same time these features also trigger retrieval of other previously integrated features. Nevertheless, the paradigms used to measure binding effects in action control can only testify for integration of stimulus and response features at the first (R1, n-1, or prime) and retrieval of the past event via feature repetition at the second (R2, n, or probe) response. Here we combined two paradigms used in the action control literature to show that integration and retrieval do indeed function simultaneously. We found both significant stimulus-response and significant response-response binding effects, indicating that integration of responses must have occurred at the same time as response retrieval due to feature repetition and vice versa.

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Human Action Control

10.1007/978-3-319-09244-7 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Bernhard Hommel ◽

Stephen B.R.E. Brown ◽

Dieter Nattkemper

Keyword(s):

Human Action ◽

Action Control

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Affect-driven impulsivity impairs human action control and selection, as measured through Pavlovian instrumental transfer and outcome devaluation

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1177/1747021819883963 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 73 (4) ◽

pp. 537-554 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Irene Hinojosa-Aguayo ◽

Felisa González

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Young Women ◽

Human Action ◽

Action Control ◽

Short Version ◽

Negative Urgency ◽

Emotional Impulsivity ◽

Outcome Devaluation

Two experiments were designed to study the role of emotional impulsiveness in action control and selection, involving healthy young women participants. In Experiment 1, the effects of both outcome devaluation and Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) were assessed on instrumental responding. In Experiment 2, we further explored the effect of outcome devaluation on outcome-specific PIT. The role of emotional impulsivity, specifically negative urgency (NU), was also evaluated in both experiments using a self-reported measure (UPPS-P scale, Spanish short version). Experiment 1 showed both outcome devaluation and outcome-specific PIT effects, which were positively inter-correlated and negatively correlated with scores in NU. Experiment 2 found an effect of outcome devaluation on outcome-specific PIT, which was negatively correlated with scores on NU. These results highlight the relevance of considering individual differences in affect-driven impulsivity, specifically NU, when addressing failures in action control and selection (proneness to habit). Moreover, these findings suggest that, at least with the procedure used in these experiments, outcome-specific PIT may be based on a goal-directed process that is under the participant’s control.

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Model-based hierarchical reinforcement learning and human action control

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2013.0480 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 369 (1655) ◽

pp. 20130480 ◽

Cited By ~ 63

Author(s):

Matthew Botvinick ◽

Ari Weinstein

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Reinforcement Learning ◽

Hierarchical Model ◽

Human Action ◽

Action Control ◽

Computational Framework ◽

Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning ◽

Model Based ◽

Human Decision ◽

Areas Of Interest

Recent work has reawakened interest in goal-directed or ‘model-based’ choice, where decisions are based on prospective evaluation of potential action outcomes. Concurrently, there has been growing attention to the role of hierarchy in decision-making and action control. We focus here on the intersection between these two areas of interest, considering the topic of hierarchical model-based control. To characterize this form of action control, we draw on the computational framework of hierarchical reinforcement learning, using this to interpret recent empirical findings. The resulting picture reveals how hierarchical model-based mechanisms might play a special and pivotal role in human decision-making, dramatically extending the scope and complexity of human behaviour.

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Planning and Representing Intentional Action

The Scientific World JOURNAL ◽

10.1100/tsw.2003.46 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 593-608 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Bernhard Hommel

Keyword(s):

Action Planning ◽

Human Action ◽

Action Control ◽

Fine Tuning ◽

Action Plans ◽

Motor Processing ◽

General Goal ◽

Action Networks ◽

Bidirectional Associations ◽

The One

This paper reviews recent approaches to human action planning and the cognitive representation of intentional actions. Evidence suggests that action planning takes place in terms of anticipated features of the intended goal, that is, in terms of action effects. These effects are acquired from early infancy on by registering contingencies between movements and perceptual movement outcomes. Co-occurrence of movements and effects leads to the creation of bidirectional associations between the underlying internal codes, thus establishing distributed perception-action networks subserving both perceiving external events and intentionally producing them. Action plans determine only the general, goal-relevant features of intended actions, while the fine-tuning is left to on-line sensory-motor processing. Action plans emerge from competition for action control between several factors: overlearned habits, perceptual events, and emotional influences, among others. Accordingly, action control represents a balance between personal intentions and wishes on the one hand and environmental affordances and demands on the other.

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What is left after an error? Towards a comprehensive account of goal-based binding and retrieval

10.31219/osf.io/uqp8d ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Anna Foerster ◽

Birte Moeller ◽

Christian Frings ◽

Roland Pfister

Keyword(s):

Correct Response ◽

Human Action ◽

Action Control ◽

Erroneous Response ◽

Internal Feedback ◽

The Third ◽

Future Success ◽

Explicit Feedback ◽

Sustained Activation

The cognitive system readily detects and corrects erroneous actions by establishing episodic bindings between representations of the acted upon stimuli and the intended correct response. If these stimuli are encountered again, they trigger the retrieval of the correct response. Thus, binding and retrieval efficiently pave the way for future success. The current study set out to define the role of the erroneous response itself and explicit feedback for the error during these processes of goal-based binding and retrieval. Two experiments showed robust and similar binding and retrieval effects with and without feedback and pointed towards sustained activation of the unbound, erroneous response. The third experiment confirmed that the erroneous response is more readily available than a neutral alternative. Together, the results demonstrate that episodic binding biases future actions toward success, guided primarily through internal feedback processes, while the erroneous response still leaves detectable traces in human action control.

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Towards a Unitary Approach to Human Action Control

Trends in Cognitive Sciences ◽

10.1016/j.tics.2017.09.009 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 21 (12) ◽

pp. 940-949 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Bernhard Hommel ◽

Reinout W. Wiers

Keyword(s):

Human Action ◽

Action Control ◽

Unitary Approach

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Merkmalsintegration und Abruf als wichtige Prozesse der Handlungssteuerung – eine Paradigmen-übergreifende Perspektive

Psychologische Rundschau ◽

10.1026/0033-3042/a000423 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 71 (1) ◽

pp. 1-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Christian Frings ◽

Iring Koch ◽

Klaus Rothermund ◽

David Dignath ◽

Carina Giesen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Action Control

Zusammenfassung. Die Kognitionspsychologische Grundlagenforschung zur Handlungskontrolle hat inzwischen eine große Zahl sehr spezifischer Aspekte von Handlungen in diversen Experimentalparadigmen isoliert und beleuchtet, sodass der gegenwärtige Forschungsstand durch eine kaum übersehbare Flut unverbundener Phänomene und paradigmen-spezifischer Modellvorstellungen gekennzeichnet ist. In dem hier vorgeschlagenen Rahmenmodell ( Binding and Retrieval in Action Control, BRAC) werden die für Handlungen wichtigsten Prozesse paradigmen-übergreifend beschrieben, systematisch eingeordnet und in ein Rahmenmodell transferiert, bei dem Merkmalsintegration und Merkmalsabruf als wichtige Mechanismen der Handlungssteuerung dienen. Wir zeigen exemplarisch auf, wie das Rahmenmodell etablierte, aber bislang unabhängig voneinander untersuchte Phänomene der Handlungs-Forschung mithilfe derselben Mechanismen erklärt. Dieses Modell birgt neben seiner Ordnungs- und Integrationsfunktion die Möglichkeit, Phänomen auch aus anderen Forschungskontexten in der Sprache des Modells zu reformulieren. Das Modell soll Wissen aus der Kognitionsforschung bzw. Allgemeinen Psychologie innovativ kondensieren und anderen Disziplinen zur Verfügung stellen.

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